PhotoCraft Launches as Open‑Source Photoshop‑Like Editor Built Entirely in Rust

Overview

PhotoCraft is a brand‑new, open‑source image‑editing application that aims to provide a clean‑room, Photoshop‑compatible experience while being written from scratch in pure Rust. The project is hosted on GitHub (https://github.com/storytold/photocraft) and is distributed under a dual MIT/Apache‑2.0 license.

Core Features

• Layer‑based editing – supports layers, masks, adjustment layers, layer styles, vector shapes and brushes.
• Real‑time text and vector tools – live‑type editing, drop‑shadows, and full SVG‑style vector handling.
• Adjustment stack – includes Vibrance, Curves, Levels, and other common photo‑corrections.
• Command‑driven UI – every menu item, tool and dialog maps to one of more than 500 internal commands, making the UI scriptable and AI‑agent friendly.
• Cross‑platform – native builds for macOS, Windows, Linux, FreeBSD and a WebAssembly version that runs in browsers.

PSD Compatibility

PhotoCraft ships a dedicated `photocraft-psd` crate that implements Adobe’s public PSD specification. Independent testing shows:

• Round‑trip fidelity – opening and re‑saving 307 of 309 files from the psd‑tools test set reproduces the original visual result; 169 of 170 files in a mixed ag‑psd/psd‑tools corpus also pass.
• Preservation of unknown blocks – any PSD elements not yet modelled (raw blocks, descriptors, extras) are carried over unchanged.
• Pixel‑perfect oracle – a composite comparison against Adobe Photoshop confirms matching gradient interpolation, layer effects, shape strokes, clipping and fill opacity.

Performance & Architecture

• Two compositors – a CPU reference compositor and a GPU‑accelerated wgpu compositor are cross‑validated.
• Copy‑on‑write tiles – 256×256 sparse tiles keep undo memory cheap and large canvases lightweight.
• Engine‑first design – a pure‑data document model and command engine sit beneath a thin `egui` UI, allowing the same commands to be invoked via UI, CLI, JSON control channel or an external AI agent.
• Extensive test suite – >1,700 automated tests covering PSD round‑trips, synthetic generators, compositor oracles and multi‑depth checks.

Platform Support & Installation

Installation notes:

• The Linux AppImage registers a desktop entry on first run; set `PHOTOCRAFT_NO_DESKTOP_INTEGRATION=1` to skip.
• Wayland drag‑and‑drop is not yet supported; use XWayland or the traditional File → Open dialog.
• The CLI (`photocraft --cli`) can drive the engine head‑less and expose a control protocol for automation.

Licensing & Community

PhotoCraft is dual‑licensed (MIT or Apache‑2.0) and the source code, fonts, icons and sample assets each retain their original open licenses. The project lives under the broader *ArtCraft* umbrella, a collection of Rust‑based creative tools. Community interaction happens on the official Discord server (discord.gg/artcraft) and via GitHub issues.

Current Status & Roadmap

The software is labeled early‑alpha. Most Photoshop UI elements are wired to commands, but several gaps remain:

• No AI‑generated features.
• About 15 tools are still missing (e.g., advanced selection, content‑aware fill).
• Typography depth and professional workflow integrations are incomplete.
• Plug‑in compatibility is not yet provided.

The developers publish a public roadmap and a parity checklist that detail which features are functional, which are wired but untested, and which are still planned.

How to Verify & Get Involved

1. Download the latest release from the official page (https://getartcraft.com/photocraft) or the GitHub releases page.
2. Run the built‑in PSD test: `cargo xtask test-corpus` (requires Rust toolchain) to reproduce the round‑trip numbers reported by the team.
3. Compare renders: open a known PSD file, export the merged image, and visually compare it with Photoshop’s output.
4. Report issues – include OS, document size, layer count and a screenshot on GitHub or Discord.
5. Contribute – the repository contains `AGENTS.md` and `docs/` for building custom scripts or AI agents that drive PhotoCraft via the JSON control channel.

*PhotoCraft does not claim affiliation with Adobe; all trademarked names are used solely for compatibility description.*